Abstract:

X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy is a widely used and extremely sensitive analytical technique for qualitative and quantitative chemical analysis. Superconducting Transition Edge Sensor (TES) microcalorimeter detectors have now been developed that achieve an energy resolution of 2 eV for 1.5 keV X-rays, which is sufficient to enable the measurement of the small shift of the X-ray line position that occurs depending on the chemical bonding state of the fluoresced atoms. STAR Cryoelectronics proposes to fabricate improved TES detectors that match this performance and integrate these detectors into an X-ray spectrometer for chemical shift mapping. This will significantly enhance the power of X-ray spectroscopy as an analytical tool for a broad range of applications.